23
Occupational Exposure to Organic Solvents as a Cause of
Sleep Apnea and Other Symptoms

24 National
Tracking of Chronic Diseases to Be Proposed

25 Debate on
Phthalates' Safety

26PCBs
All Over Again (flame retardants)

27 College
Center Built with Low VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds)

28 County in
California Fights Herbicide on Highways

29 People
Carry Many Environmental Pollutants: Study Released
January 2003

30Twenty First
National Pesticide Forum: Toxics in the Age of
Globalization, April 25-27, 2003

31 Church for
MCS Blocked by Michigan Town

32 Benefit
Concert for the Chemically Injured

MCS
Case Definition Still Needs Support!

John and Cynthia Wilson, of CIIN, Chemical Injury
Information Network, were in Washington D.C.,
September 5 and 6, 2002. Cynthia was in Washington to ask
Congress to help establish a research case definition(s) for
MCS. John aided Cynthia with her wheelchair and searched
for a conference site. The lack of a case definition, has been an
obstacle to getting MCS research funding for 12 years.

Since 1991, government agencies that
oversee public health have maintained that a case definition must
be issued for those with multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS).
Yet, none of these definitions have received government
acceptance.

5 surveys conducted in Arizona, North
Carolina, California, Georgia, and New Mexico, document that 15%
of the population report some form of chemical intolerance. 4%
report sensitivities severe enough to require major lifestyle
changes.

It has been 12 years since the
government first hosted a conference for an MCS case definition.

Would you please send a letter to CDC,
NIEHS, and ATSDR, asking them to sponsor a meeting or series of
meetings proposed by the Chemical Injury Information Network? We
need a research case definition, so the various forms of chemical
intolerance can be researched for medical treatments or cure.

Please write
before March 29th or you will
get a second chance to comment this fall
when the first draft is proposed.

Even if you don't live on or near Bureau of Land
Management property intended for spraying, you need to be
concerned. Many of us camp or recreate on BLM property (and flee
to such open spaces when dodging herbicide spraying along
highways, in cities, our neighborhoods, etc.). I wouldn't
be surprised if the National Parks and Forest Service were next,
knowing that there is a national drive to get federal agencies on
board ASAP in controlling "noxious weeds." Pretty
soon, there will be no safe place left. I ask you to join
me in writing a letter today!!

Added comments to sample letter by
editor:

"This proposed use of poisons on the
land threatens me. Because of my chemical injury, I
have been pushed to the outskirts of populated areas for
safe housing. Many of those with Multiple Chemical
Sensitivity, including me, have felt secure having
the BLM land as our neighbor and have invested much to
build safe homes in these clean areas."
_________________________________________________________

Do you think the federal government should be
planning to spray 1.2 million acres every year for the next
decade or two? NCAP needs your help to stop this enormous
herbicide spray program.

The Bureau of Land Management is accepting
comments to determine the scope of a new environmental impact
statement for their vegetation management programs in the western
U.S. The agency is proposing to treat six million acres annually,
with just over a million of them to be treated with herbicides.
Over 20 different herbicides will be used.

Right now, the BLM is planning that the new
environmental impact statement (EIS) will address the methods
they would like to use to treat the agency's vegetation problems,
but the EIS will say nothing about the causes of the weed
problems. Essentially, the program BLM is proposing is just a
large herbicide Band-Aid. Please tell BLM that they must address
the causes of weed problems on the land they manage, and how the
agency will prevent the conditions that encourage weed
infestations.

(The deadline for comments was
March 29, 2002. Check with NCAP in the Fallfor next response period.).
***************************************************************

Sample letter

(Please use your own words and add details that are
important to you.)

Dear Mr. Amme:

I am submitting the following comments about
BLM's Environmental Impact Statement for Vegetation Treatments,
Watersheds and Wildlife Habitats on Public Lands Administered by
the BLM in the Western United States, Including Alaska.

The federal invasive species directive requires
that federal agencies "not authorize, fund, or carry out
actions that it believes are likely to cause or promote the
introduction or spread of invasive species" Therefore the
BLM's environmental impact statement must address how the agency
will manage activities that encourage the spread of invasive
species on the lands that it manages. Such activities include
livestock grazing, off-road vehicle use, road construction and
maintenance, etc.

The herbicide use proposed by the EIS must be
limited so that it will not damage the native ecosystems that the
EIS is trying to restore. To that end, in areas where treatment
is required, the EIS must specify that nonchemical methods should
be preferred over chemical ones and ground treatments should be
preferred over aerial treatments. Finally, the goal of the EIS
should be to reduce the need for chemical treatments.

Sincerely,

Your name

2Are We Making Our Children
Sick?

Bill Moyers
tracks the scientific search for answers about

how
environmental toxins affect America's children

Kids and Chemicals, A Special Report. Premiered Friday,
May 10 at 9:00 (ET) on PBS (check local listings) A
special edition of NOW with Bill Moyers. Features medical
investigators and health officials engaged in the latest
research on links between childhood illness and
environmental contamination. The program looks at
families around the country who are coping with the
consequences to their children of potentially toxic
exposures. "The disturbing increases in childhood
illness in America cannot be ignored," says Bill
Moyers.

The Chemical
Sensitivity Foundation. Representatives will be calling
people who live within a certain radius of the WTC site to invite
them to participate in our registry if they have developed health
problems they believe are related to the Ground Zero air quality.
We also welcome to our registry anyone else in the New York City
area who believes he or she has developed health problems related
to the 9/11 attacks.http://chemicalsensitivityfoundation.org/wtc-healthregistry.htm

If you would like to
receive information about placing your name on our
registry, please contact us:

Research has continually proven that mercury fillings are
linked to a whole myriad of illnesses. It is a world-wide
problem. The following petition was sent to me. If
you would like to help, please add your name to it.

THE BITE PETITION (BAN MERCURY IN TEETH EVERYWHERE) HAS OVER
4000 SIGNATURES AND IS STILL GROWING. CITIZENS OF OVER 50
COUNTRIES HAVE SIGNED, MAKING THIS THE WORLD'S MOST INTERNATIONAL
PETITION. IF WE COULD REACH 10,000 SIGNATURES BY MID-2002, THIS
WOULD BE A GREAT

STATEMENT OF FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY. THE PETITION WAS STARTED
NOVEMBER 25, 2000 IN TORONTO, CANADA AND IS LINKED TO BY 38 WEB
PAGES AROUND THE WORLD.

PLEASE DO THE FOLLOWING TO HELP THIS PETITION REACH CRITICAL
MASS:

1)SIGN IT

2)FORWARD EMAILS TO YOUR FRIENDS AND ASSOCIATES AND ASK THEM
TO SIGN

3)EMAIL MAJOR WEB SITES AND ASK THEM TO PUT A LINK TO THE
PETITION ON THEIR PAGE.

4)CALL THE MEDIA AND TELL THEM WHAT IS HAPPENING

THE GOAL IS SIMPLE: AN IMMEDIATE, WORLDWIDE BAN ON THE USE OF
MERCURY FILLINGS IN HUMAN BEINGS. ONCE THE PETITION REACHES
10,000 SIGNATURES, WE CAN BEGIN TO PRESENT IT TO EVERY MAJOR
DENTAL ASSOCATION AND NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.

THE PETITION IS HOSTED BY WWW.PETITIONONLINE.COM, AN INDEPENDENT 3RD PARTY.YOUR SIGNATURE
DOES NOT BELONG TO ANYONE WHO WILL USE IT FOR PROFIT, AND EMAIL
ADDRESSES ARE NOT PUBLISHED ON THE PETITION PAGE. YOUR PRIVACY IS
GUARANTEED; EMAIL ADDRESSES ARE COLLECTED SIMPLY FOR RANDOM
STATISTICAL VERIFICATION THAT SIGNATURES ARE FROM REAL PEOPLE.

5 National MCS Awareness
& Education Proclamation

This is a petition to the President to try to get the month of
May declared National MCS Awareness month.

"MCS" Beacon of Hope at: www.ncchem.com/mcsbeacon
If you know of any "Angels" that are willing to make a
tax-free donation or volunteer a little of their time, energy and
talents to help us help others, please send them our way!

As usual, something always appears on the horizon that
could and would like to spoil our air quality and our
peace and quiet which is so in need for those of us who
are endeavoring to let nature take it's healing course
with us.

Over the past 22 years I have been housing people like
you and me. And while some did not stay long, many
have recovered enough here to be able to move on in their
lives. When most come, they have no place to live
never mind recover. My job is not to be able,
but to be available. I need your help.

We are again facing another group of people who would
like to use our community not for what is best,
peace, quiet and healing, but for entertainment and
mostly to make money. There is a powerful
organization called BMX who builds tracks for not only
bicycles but for off road dirt bikes and they are forever
trying to force themselves into quiet places, far from
their own homes. (These people have tracks
everywhere and want to increase their outreach to make
money because their former source of funds is being cut
off. That source was the "gasoline tax"
we pay on every gallon of gas we buy.)

I need your help. Please contact as many people who
will write a letter to the following address.

Frank P. Special

District Park Manager

5201 Ruffin Rd. Suite P

San Diego, Ca. 92123

If there are enough objections from those of us who have or
may yet need a place like this in order to go through our journey
of recovery, it will help enormously. Of course I would
like to flood their office with bags full of objection.
This can stop it. Also please contact other activist groups
working on the behalf of environmental health. Let me know
who they are or pass along this letter.

Thanks so much, Harriett

Harriett Molloy, Founder/Director

Community for the Environmentally Sensitive

P.O. Box 91, Potrero, Calif. 91963

7 Dilution of Organic
Standards for Body Care Products,

Fiber and
Cleaning Products

There's a movement afoot to dilute the standards for the
organic certification of body care products.

Update 11-02:
Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky introduced House Bill
1947, also known as SNIFF (Safe Notification
and Identification For Fragrances) The original bill had one
co-sponsor-- Rep. Shelley Berkley (NV) and perhaps another. It
will have to be re-introduced into the next Congress, by Rep.
Schakowsky. SNIFF would require the Food and Drug Administration
to let consumers know, by means of label requirements, what known
allergens and toxins are in fragranced products. There are many
of them. Hardly anyone seems to know about HB 1947. Please alert
all you correspondents!

* Environmental Health Network asks you to
write to your own representatives- "A
lot of people like to talk about their reactions to
fragrances, but they don't like to write about it . . .
at least juding by the fact that in 3.5 years, the FDA
Petition has received only 1,300 letters and the numbers
of people adversely affected by fragrances reach in the
reach in the millions." More info about SNIFF: users.lmi.net/wilworks/ehnlinx/s.htm#SNIFF

I write on behalf of our charity The
Environmental Law Centre, (Elc), which we founded a year
ago www.elc.org.ukin
the hope of attracting your interest to a project which we are
hoping to achieve.

We work closely with
peoplewho
have been exposed to chemicalsas a result of various experiences,
ranging from domestic to industrial and even war
conditions. In Britain, there is a unique purpose
built hospital which we are being given the opportunity to buy
(the previous owners forced to sell through ill health), as we
are committed to using it for the purpose for which it
was built. We are confident in our treatments and management
programmes as we have top experts in various fields who are
willing to help us once we have been able to obtain funding and
get everything up and running.

It is the only
hospital in the UKwhich specializes in allergy and toxicological
problems. Many of these problems are
not yet medically recognised as they are in the US and
hence our problem in finding financial support in the UK.
We are also getting more and more Gulf War Veterans being
referred to us for help, which we are giving, but with the
hospital we could do so much more for these and other
people. We need help.

We are very committed to this cause as there
is such a need and desperation among the people who come to us as
they have usually exhausted all other mainstream medicine which
has also drained them of their financial resources. We need
someone who has compassion and understanding for what we are
aiming to provide and maybe you may feel you could contribute and
help us to achieve this vision, or know someone who
could.

We have a business plan for the hospital and
would be happy to provide one to you.

We look forward to hearing from you
very much.

Yours sincerely,

Dr Kartar Badsha

On behalf of ELC

"... also we are interested in making
contacts with people interested in this field
particularly as we believe that this is a gross violation
of Human Rights. Recognizing this, we as a charity have
adopted that Environmental injustice is in breach of
Human Rights and have taken up cases on behalf of
individuals, which have a wider general public interest
to European Courts of Human Rights. We have in-house lawyers and MCS /EI
experts.

Finally, this year we hope to organize a conference on MCS/EI in the UK and
we hope to bring this question to the forefront of all
politicians through the world and we would love
to meet someonewho will undertake similar action in the
USA."

References

The Charity is both registered with the
Charity's Commission and also with Companies House - both are UK
government bodies that monitors our activities.

Further, we have taken 3 cases to the
European Court of Human Rights and also one petition to the
European Parliament which means our names are also displayed in
this 2 organization. Finally we are also registered at the Home
Office website as a charity undertaking work.

11 Enzyme Key to
Reaction, Scientists Say

By Andrew Wineke, Everett Herald, Tuesday, August 4,
1998, p C1 & C2

Why does a single whiff of a chemical make some people
seriously ill, while others don't even notice it?
Researchers have begun to map out how differently people
can react to the same pesticides and chemicals. members.aol.com/wsmcsn/Enzyme.htm

"To the editor,Sheldon Wagner's report
of fatal asthma in a
childafteruse
of a pyrethrin-based animal shampoo touches on severalmatters that bear further clarification." West
J Med 2000; 173: 86 -87www.ewjm.com/cgi/content/full/174/3/169

13 Electromagnetic
Field Exposures and Health Problems

Robert Riedlinger

Sunday, 10/21/01

I have been researching the effects of EMF on health for the
past five years, and I will send information to anyone that asks.
I firmly believe that many of our health problems are directly
related to EMF in our atmosphere by radio, TV and cell phone
towers. There are many scientific studies that support my theory.
I say this from a personal experience of living close to a cell
phone TV, and FM radio tower.

The Mountain Resource Center (MRC), in Conifer, CO, has
recently been awarded a Pesticide Environmental
Stewardship Program (PESP) grant from the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA)/Region 8. The $40,000
allotment will fund year two of MRC's Highway
285 Living Roadside Project, developed and managed by
Micki Davi. The Project is a collaborative
community-based environmental protection effort which
seeks to implement non-chemical Integrated Vegetation
Management (IVM) to control invasive, non-native plants
(or "noxious weeds") on selected roadside and
abutting sites along a 31-mile stretch of the Highway 285
corridor. Besides trained roadside crew workers,
Davi coordinates volunteers from agencies, community and
civic organizations, churches, businesses, youth groups
and schools to adopt sites adjacent to, or abutting,
the Highway 285 corridor. These
"Partners" hand pull or cut noxious weeds and
revegetate with native seeds on abutting sites, thereby,
expanding the area of nonchemical IVM along the Highway
285 corridor. Biocontrol agents (insects that eat
weeds) and corn gluten (a natural herbicide) are also
being used. "I am just amazed at the amount
of work they have accomplished in the last year with the
small amount of money we gave them," said EPA
Project Officer, Peg Perreault. "The very idea
that this started with one woman, who got the backing of
the Mountain Resource Center and pulled in the community
is extremely impressive. She has contacted all the
experts, she has done so much research, she has done her
homework." Perreault went on to say what
begins on a small scale in a community can often grow and
become a model for other communities. EPA's John
Larson agrees. "I really hope that once we can
demonstrate the feasibility of alternative weed control
(using hand and insects) this can spread to other areas
of the country and other regions as a feasible
method,"

Word of the Project has spread to other communities and
states who are now requesting information from Davi about
starting a similar project in their region. This week, a
Hebrew teen group of 34 students from New York will
arrive in Conifer to assist in the Highway 285 Living
Roadsides Project by hand pulling noxious weeds on an
abutting site (Elk Creek Elementary School). Davi
will provide training on pesticide pollution prevention
through pesticide use reduction and Integrated Vegetation
Management (IVM), as well as, address pesticide issues
facing New York citizens.

With additional funding, Davi hopes to turn the Highway
285 Living Roadsides Project into what EPA's Director
of Quality Assurance (Region 8), Tony Medrano, called, a
"living laboratory." Davi has recently
enlisted the support of several scientists to collaborate
with her in turning the Project into an interdisciplinary
scientific research model in the hopes of acquiring
detailed data on non-chemical weed management along
roadsides.

If you are a
young person or mother with a child who has chemical
sensitivities, we would love to hear your story. What is your
life like now? Who helps you? What helps you or the child feel
better? Your story will be posted in the "Gathering
Stories" or "Personal Stories" section that can
bring about awareness of the problems associated with this
illness and possibly, encouragement to us all.

American
Academy of Environmental Medicine.Hosts a conference every year and
teaches courses. Their nextconference
will be held in Colorado in October.Phone:
316-684-5500. E-mail:aaem@swbell.net
Web site:http://www.aaem.com

Yearly
Symposium: "Man and His Environment in Health and
Disease." Dr. William J. Rea, Director of the
Environmental Health Center-Dallas, Texas, and the American
Environmental Health Foundation. Attended by physicians and
researchers from other countries. On June, 2001, "The
Environmental Aspects of Neurotoxicity." Phone:
214-368-4132. http://www.ehcd.com

September 2 and 3, 2003;
Cecil Sharpe House, London.
More details will appear on www.elc.org.uk

Background

The World Health
Organization (WHO) concluded that there were about one
billion people in the industrialized countries suffering
from MCS (Multiple Chemical Sensitivity) out of total
population of 1.7 billion. Seven out of ten sufferers are
women followed by children. The reason for this is the
combined strength of marketing thrust. On the average, a
person comes into contact with about 300 chemicals day
(source : EU). Ten years ago, there were 1 in 850,000
children suffering from Autism or an autistic type of
syndrome. Today it is 1 in 850! Similarly, there is an
increase in asthma, etc. Gulf War is another example so
is Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq and Proto Rico and once
again Gulf War 2.

The government's response is
Prozac, Rithilin, or a mental home. Children, as young as 5, are
put on Prozac. FDA has approved Prozac for children. The story
goes on. Another interesting aspect is that most of the sufferers
are educated and from middle to C5 groups and not poor! At the
moment people have spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on
treatment without much to show. This has result in financial
ruins, marriage breakdown, etc.

Our aim to bring to the notice
of all the people so that attention can be paid to the plight of
these people when their human rights are breached.

Articles - I am trying to talk
with Paul Hunt to include MCS as part of his UN mandate on
health.

The audience will be a mix ie,
lawyers, doctors, students (HR< Medical & Law) and also
the victims.

I need alot of people to
help me with the organizing this conference and also informing
other groups - interested in helping?

Brochures and Appeal letters
are already printed if anyone is interested in assisting us with
sending these to various interested parties, please contact us.

"Premiering Monday, March 26, [2001]
at 9 p.m. on PBS, correspondent Bill Moyers and producer
Sherry Jones uncover how our health and safety have been
put at risk and why powerful forces don't want the truth
to be known."

A Conference
to Promote Safer Pest Management in Agriculture.
Some regulators are starting to consider the concept of
Comparative Risk Assessment (CRA) for pesticides as a way
of securing safer pest management products. CRA aims to
replace higher risk with lower
risk products. Under this system, regulators will
assess products to find whether there is another active
substance, product or method available for the same use
which is equally effective and presents significantly
less risk to human or animal health or the environment.
PAN UK is organising a multi-stakeholder meeting on 26
November 2002, Regents Park College, London to discuss
the finer points of CRA implementation. For more
information on how to attend, look at the conference
programme at our website: www.pan-uk.org/press/craconf.htmor e-mail David Buffin:davidbuffin@pan-uk.org

22Agency for Toxic
Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) Study

Finds
Mississippi Children Exposed to Methyl Parathion Scored
Overall in Average Range on Tests

Some have problems with
short-term memory, motor skills, behavior

For Immediate Release:
Oct. 4, 2002

The ATSDR is making available to Mississippi residents
the results of a study of children exposed to the
pesticide methyl parathion. In testing for long-term
health effects, some children exposed to the chemical
exhibited subtle problems with short-term memory, motor
skills and behavior, although, overall, the children who
completed the testing scored in the average range, that
is, their scores were no different from unexposed
children on most tests. www.atsdr.cdc.gov/NEWS/methyl_parathion_100702.html

23Occupational
exposure to organic solvents as a cause of sleep apnea

Christer Edling, Arne
Lindberg, Jan Ulfberg

Abstract: "A
high prevalence of sleep apnea was found in a group of
men occupationally exposed to organic solvents. Workers
with long term exposure to organic solvents often report
symptoms such as fatigue, forgetfulness, and
concentration difficulties." British Journal of
Industrial Medicine 1993;50:276-279

"A NATIONWIDE system for tracking chronic medical
conditions would help in determining which might be
caused or exacerbated by environmental factors, but there
is no such system now. Congress should act early next
year to rectify this shortcoming."

25Debate on
Phthalates' Safety

Beauty Coverup? A Cosmetic Ingredient Is
Linked to Animal Defects. Its Human Risks Are Less Clear

". . . a small coalition of consumer groups, led by Environmental
Working Group and Health Care Without Harm,
has cried foul, claiming the chemicals' risk to millions
of cosmetic-wearing women has been underestimated."

"The Environment and
Oberlin: An Update" Oberlin Alumni Magazine,
Summer 2002. One of the design decisions made in building
the Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies,
was to use low-VOC (volatile organic compounds) paints
and adhesives. An honors research student in
environmental studies at Oberlin, suffers from
multiple chemical sensitivity disorder.www.oberlin.edu/%7Ealummag/oamcurrent/oam_summer2002/feat_enviro.htm

The 21st National
Pesticide Forum, Toxics in the Age of Globalization,
is a national conference focusing on the adoption of alternative
practices and policies to protect our children, workers and communities from
the toxic hazards of pesticides in an age of global social,
economic and corporate politics. In addition, relevant issues
such as health effects, West Nile virus, pesticides in schools,
organic agriculture, farmworker justice, habitat impact and much
more will be covered in the Forum workshops. This years
event is convened by Beyond Pesticides/ National Coalition
Against the Misuse of Pesticides, Chemical Connection, Clean
Water Action Texas, Environmental Outreach, Public Citizen Texas,
Texans for Alternatives to Pesticides, and University of Texas
Campus Greens.

Featured speakers include:
Baldemar Velasquez, founder and current president of the Farm
Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC); Derrick Jensen, author of
Listening to the Land, A Language Older Than Words, and The
Culture of Make Believe; Routt Reigart, MD, Professor of
Pediatrics at MUSC and co-editor of EPA's Recognition and
Management of Pesticide Poisonings; Percy Schmeiser, Canadian
farmer sued by Monsanto after his crops were contaminated by
Monsanto's "Round-Up Ready" canola; Brent Blackwelder,
President of Friends of the Earth; Lori Wallach, author of Whose
Trade Organization and Director of Public Citizen's Global Trade
Watch; Angus Wright, author of The Death of Ramon Gonzales;
Warren Porter, professor of Zoology at the University of
Wisconsin. The speaker list is growing daily; please see www.beyondpesticides.org/forum for recent additions.

The 21st National
Pesticide Forum will be held April 25-27, 2003, in
the Thompson Conference Center at the University of Texas at
Austin. Austin, TX, often called the "Live Music Capital of
the World" and the "Cultural Center of the
Southwest," is also a great place to visit alone or with
family and friends. The campus is just a few blocks north of
downtown.

"The Great Lakes Society, a religious group that
ministers to people with chemical sensitivities and the disabled,
today filed suit . . . [and] appeals the Township's denial of the
Society's application for a special use permit so that it could
build a new church on its property. . ."www.becketfund.org/press/2003/040103.html

The Great Lakes Society is
trying to achieve its first building that will be designed for
people with MCS and environmental allergies with a genuine
"fragrance free" policy. They are battling the
resistence and discrimination of the local township with help
from Becket Fund Organization, a national law firm for protection
of all religious traditions.